Saturday, October 27, 2007
Back To The Movies!
It’s been a while since I went to the movies. There just hasen’t been any reason to go, as far as I could tell. With ticket prices being $9.50, I have to wait until 2 movies are out that I wanna see so I can movie hop and get my $9.50 worth.
Well, with Saw IV coming out yesterday I knew there was my chance. I had wanted to see Into The Wild for well over a month now, but there wasn’t another film out that interested me. The Darjeeling Limited also came out Friday, but unfortunately, the newest Wes Anderson flick was playing at the “other” theatre (the theatre that didn’t have Into The Wild). So with my addiction to horror films, Saw IV was an easy choice since that was also at the same theatre.
So the way I see it, I went to see Into The Wild and it just so happens that Saw IV was on the way.
First off, Saw IV: there is not a single surprise in the film and not even a really good scare. The series has been drained since…well, Saw II. Saw III was terrible (AND too long at over 2 hours). Of course, what do you expect from a horror franchise that comes out with a sequel every year. I missed seeing Saw III in the theatre because I was in Africa…and fortunately, I didn’t miss anything.
Saw IV was very hard to understand. I may not be the brightest crayon in the box, but the film had some crazy-ass plot that I really cannot even start to describe. Yes, the “Jigsaw Killer” is dead, along with his helper girl-Marilyn Manson wanna be from earlier Saw films. But of course, that doesn’t mean that they cannot still cause trouble. The film may have had some good gore scenes aside from the opening dissection of the “Jigsaw Killer”, but because the editing was similar to modern day MTV music videos, flashes of what look like blood and guts are flickered across the screen at lightning speed. You think you saw something gross, but you’re not quite sure. I feel bad for the special effects crew who worked so hard, only to have their elaborate scenes lasting a few milliseconds.
Saw IV is better than Saw III, but not quite as good as the mediocre Saw II, and nowhere near as fresh as the original Saw. Geeeesus, did I really just type that sentence with a straight face???
Next: Into The Wild: a good film, but this was exactly what I expected it to be: a feel good, sappy, coming of age film dealing with a spoiled rotten kid who graduates from Emory University, donates his graduate school money to charity ($24,000), and heads west and eventually north to Alaska…just for the experience. He doesn’t tell his parents, sister, or friends (actually, they never even mentioned any friends he had before the “journey”). He hates his parents because they fought when he was a child (ahhhhh, poor kid!). His father was abusive to his mother, and that made little Christopher McCandless upset to the point that he just wanted to leave home and never look back, despite the fact that they really love him and miss him…he wants completely out of dodge, especially after his parents offered to buy him a new car as a graduation present. He refuses any form of technology or anything dealing with money, and acts like a little snot nosed kid who has gotten everything he ever wanted. At one point he even burns his money, which is really stupid (for many reasons aside from the obvious) because he later needs money…and of course he gets it from odd jobs here and there along the way. No problem!
It’s a true story however, and Christopher meets a slew of cool people along the way…and these characters are the REAL reason why Into The Wild is a good film. Vince Vaughn, Catherine Keener, and Kristen Stewart are the 3 major characters I enjoyed the most. Vince Vaughn does a good job of, well, not acting like Vince Vaughn in Wedding Crashers to put it bluntly. That was quite refreshing!
Ya know, I could easy relate to the idea of “to hell with technology and onward to nature” at one point in my life. In a way, Into The Wild was the story of me just before I joined the Peace Corps. After nearly dieing of continual weight loss combined with an ever present deteriorating mental health, I threw in the towel and came home. Poor Christopher never throws in the towel, but he ends up, in a way, miserable…ironically, because he was all alone, which was exactly what he wanted from the beginning.
The best character in the film is not Vince Vaughn, but nature itself. There are countless beautiful scenes that take your breath away. The film just makes you wanna go out, explore, travel, and see the world. And, thank God, it reminds you that you should at least tell your family and loved ones where you are and/or what you are doing.
Well, with Saw IV coming out yesterday I knew there was my chance. I had wanted to see Into The Wild for well over a month now, but there wasn’t another film out that interested me. The Darjeeling Limited also came out Friday, but unfortunately, the newest Wes Anderson flick was playing at the “other” theatre (the theatre that didn’t have Into The Wild). So with my addiction to horror films, Saw IV was an easy choice since that was also at the same theatre.
So the way I see it, I went to see Into The Wild and it just so happens that Saw IV was on the way.
First off, Saw IV: there is not a single surprise in the film and not even a really good scare. The series has been drained since…well, Saw II. Saw III was terrible (AND too long at over 2 hours). Of course, what do you expect from a horror franchise that comes out with a sequel every year. I missed seeing Saw III in the theatre because I was in Africa…and fortunately, I didn’t miss anything.
Saw IV was very hard to understand. I may not be the brightest crayon in the box, but the film had some crazy-ass plot that I really cannot even start to describe. Yes, the “Jigsaw Killer” is dead, along with his helper girl-Marilyn Manson wanna be from earlier Saw films. But of course, that doesn’t mean that they cannot still cause trouble. The film may have had some good gore scenes aside from the opening dissection of the “Jigsaw Killer”, but because the editing was similar to modern day MTV music videos, flashes of what look like blood and guts are flickered across the screen at lightning speed. You think you saw something gross, but you’re not quite sure. I feel bad for the special effects crew who worked so hard, only to have their elaborate scenes lasting a few milliseconds.
Saw IV is better than Saw III, but not quite as good as the mediocre Saw II, and nowhere near as fresh as the original Saw. Geeeesus, did I really just type that sentence with a straight face???
Next: Into The Wild: a good film, but this was exactly what I expected it to be: a feel good, sappy, coming of age film dealing with a spoiled rotten kid who graduates from Emory University, donates his graduate school money to charity ($24,000), and heads west and eventually north to Alaska…just for the experience. He doesn’t tell his parents, sister, or friends (actually, they never even mentioned any friends he had before the “journey”). He hates his parents because they fought when he was a child (ahhhhh, poor kid!). His father was abusive to his mother, and that made little Christopher McCandless upset to the point that he just wanted to leave home and never look back, despite the fact that they really love him and miss him…he wants completely out of dodge, especially after his parents offered to buy him a new car as a graduation present. He refuses any form of technology or anything dealing with money, and acts like a little snot nosed kid who has gotten everything he ever wanted. At one point he even burns his money, which is really stupid (for many reasons aside from the obvious) because he later needs money…and of course he gets it from odd jobs here and there along the way. No problem!
It’s a true story however, and Christopher meets a slew of cool people along the way…and these characters are the REAL reason why Into The Wild is a good film. Vince Vaughn, Catherine Keener, and Kristen Stewart are the 3 major characters I enjoyed the most. Vince Vaughn does a good job of, well, not acting like Vince Vaughn in Wedding Crashers to put it bluntly. That was quite refreshing!
Ya know, I could easy relate to the idea of “to hell with technology and onward to nature” at one point in my life. In a way, Into The Wild was the story of me just before I joined the Peace Corps. After nearly dieing of continual weight loss combined with an ever present deteriorating mental health, I threw in the towel and came home. Poor Christopher never throws in the towel, but he ends up, in a way, miserable…ironically, because he was all alone, which was exactly what he wanted from the beginning.
The best character in the film is not Vince Vaughn, but nature itself. There are countless beautiful scenes that take your breath away. The film just makes you wanna go out, explore, travel, and see the world. And, thank God, it reminds you that you should at least tell your family and loved ones where you are and/or what you are doing.
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